Attention has been paid to a lithium rechargeable battery which employs a lithium metal as a negative electrode, as a next generation rechargeable battery because of its high energy density. However, since the lithium metal is employed for the negative electrode, the lithium metal is dissolved and deposited during charge and discharge, thereby producing dendrites and deforming the electrode. For that reason, this type of lithium rechargeable battery is inferior in cycle characteristic and cannot be put to practical use. To solve such a problem, proposed are Li-alloy negative electrodes employing a metal capable of being alloyed with Li as well as carbon negative electrodes employing a carbon material such as graphite. Some of the carbon negative electrodes have been put to practical use.
Nevertheless, since the theoretical capacity of the carbon negative electrode is as low as 372 mAh/g, the energy density of the carbon negative electrode is disadvantageously low compared with the negative electrode which employs the metal lithium. Furthermore, when the Li-alloy negative electrode is employed, expansion and shrinkage in volume are repeated during charge and discharge. Due to this, the active material particles are pulverized during charge-discharge cycles, thereby disadvantageously deteriorating the cycle characteristics of the battery.